Tag: migration

A human fossil found in Isreal in 2002 now shows that humans may have left Africa up to 100,000 years earlier than originally thought. Researchers spent one and a half decades studying an upper jawbone and stone tools found in a cave in Isreal.

The jawbone was found with teeth that were thought to be between 170 000 and 190 000 years old. CT scans helped to build a 3D model, which researchers then compared with other fossils from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

The tools found nearbysuggest that prehistoric people were busymakingvariousobjects that they used for hunting animals and gathering. While some scientists say that the tools could only have been made by homo sapiens, modern people, others do not ignore the fact that Neanderthals could also have made them.

Up to now, the oldest fossils found outside Africa were also located in Israel. According toarchaeologists, they were no more than 90,000 to 120,000 years old.

The new discovery also sets back the date at which homo sapiens appeared in Africa. While the current theory says that they originated in Africa 200,000 years ago, we now may believe that they actually showed up between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago. If that is true, then they probably left Africa on short trips to other continents as early as 200,000 years ago.

Skull of a Homo Sapiens – Image: Dr. Günter Bechly

Words

according to = as said by …

appear = show up; start to exist

archaeologist = a person who studies ancient civilisations by looking at what is left of buildings, tools etc..

cave = a large natural hole in the side of a hill or mountain

compare = to look at two or more things and find out the differences between them

CT scan = an examination in which the inside of an object is produced on a computer using x-rays

current = now

decade = ten years

discovery = finding something for the first time

fossil = an animal or plant that lived many thousands of years ago and that has been preserved in rock

gathering = to look for plants to eat

homo sapiens = modern man; the type of human that exists now

humans = people

ignore = pay no attention to …

jawbone = one of the bones that are in your teeth

located = found

Neanderthal = early type of human being who lived in Europe during the Stone Age

originally = at first

originate = come from

prehistoric people = people who lived a long time ago, before anything was written down

researcher = someone who studies a subject in detail in order to find out more about it

scientist = a person who is trained in science and works in a lab

skull = the bones of a person’s head

stone tools = early tools that the first people made out of stone; they were used for hunting, gathering food and making fire

Over the next few decades, Europe’s Muslim population is expected to continue growing. A studyestimates that by 2050 the Muslim population could grow to 58 million, or 11 % of the total European population, compared to 5 % today.

The study conducted by Pew research, is based on census and immigrationdata from 30 countries. It created three scenarios. In the first scenario, Muslim immigration into Europe would come to a complete halt. Even then, the Muslim population would rise to 7.4 %. This is because Muslims, on average, are 13 years younger than Europeans and have a higher birth rate.

On the other side, a high migration scenario is based on the flow of refugees from 2015- 2016 and expects it to continue. If this happens, the total Muslim population in Europe will rise to 75 million, about 14% of the total population.

According to the Pew report, not all countries will be affected evenly by future Muslim immigration. Germany and Sweden will see the biggest increases because these two countries accepted most asylum seekers during the 2015-2016 refugee crisis.

At the moment, Germany (5 million) and France (5.7 Million) have the largest Muslim populations in Europe.

The recently published study is likely to cause more debate on immigration into Europe. It citesinstability in the Middle East and Northern Africa as well as the ongoing conflict in Syria as the main factors that drive people to European countries. In the last 6 years seeking asylum in conflict regions was the most important motive for Muslims coming to Europe. Only few came to Europe for employment or education.

According torecent scientific researchconducted by Germany’s Max Planck Institute, the plague was in Europe as far back as the Stone Age. When scanning the remains of 500prehistoric skeletons, scientists found plague bacteria in six individuals. The samples come from Russia, Germany and the Baltic countries.

The deadly bacterium came to Europe during the mass migration of people who moved from Central Asia eastwards about 5,000 years ago. The findings suggest that the disease came to Europe in waves during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Some experts think that people may have been moving eastwards to escape the bacterium.

Most of the people at that time were nomadic farmers who travelled with their livestock. Animals may have harboured the plague bacterium and helped spread it.

By analyzing the bacterium scientists hope to find out how it evolved and became more deadly over periods of time.

The plague was responsible for many mass killings in history. The deadliest was the Black Death which occurred in Europe during the 14th century and killed about a third of the continent’s population. It still causes deaths in certain areas of the world. Recent outbreaks in Madagascar have killed hundreds of people.

Stone Age people may have spread the plague from Central Asia to Europe – Image: Gugatchitchinadze

Words

according to = as said by …

bacterium, bacteria = some living things, some of which cause illnesses or diseases

Baltic countries = Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

Bronze Age = time between 6,000 and 4,000 years ago when bronze was used for making tools

century = a hundred years

conduct = do, carry out

disease = illness

escape = get away from

evolve = grow; develop; change

harbour = here: to have something in them that is dangerous

livestock = animals such as cows, sheep, goats that are kept on a farm

mass migration = when many people leave their homes, often in order to escape from a dangerous situation

Neolithic = the last period of the Stone Age, about 10,000 years ago, when people started to live in small groups

nomadic = people who travel from place to place instead of living in one place all the time

outbreak = when something suddenly starts to happen

plague = deadly disease that produces high fever and swollen places in the body; it often leads to deaths of a large number of people

prehistoric = time in history before anything was written down

recent = a short time ago

remains = what is left of a body

research = to study a subject seriously so that you can find out more about it

responsible = the reason for something

scan = look at something carefully

scientist = a person who is trained in science and works in a lab

spread = take from place to place

suggest = imply; to say that something is probably true

Stone Age = early time in human history when stone was used for making tools

Easter Island , or Rapa Nui as the natives call themselves , belongs to the remotest places on earth. The Chilean island, famous for its carved statues, is located in the middle of the southern Pacific Ocean.

For decades, scientists have been wondering how the natives got to the island before the first Europeans came in 1722. Most experts think that the first settlers came to Easter Island at around 1200 A.D. , probably on small boats crisscrossing the Pacific Ocean.

Other anthropologists have been trying to find out if the natives have any connections to early South Americans, three thousand kilometres away. Latest research now claims that the Easter Islanders were, in fact, more isolated than previously thought.

Scientists have been examining the skeletons and bones of five people that go back hundreds of years. However, they have found no evidence that suggests they have might have ancestors in South America.

The first theory of South American ancestry came up when Thor Heyerdahl saw sweet potatoes when he arrived there in the 1950s. He also found people using fishing tools that South Americans also used. Scientists at that time thought the people of the Easter Islands may have sailed to South America and back again some time before the Europeans came.

Famous statues on Easter Island – Image: Horacio_Fernandez

Words

ancestor = a member of your family who lived a long time ago

anthropologist = a person who studies people , their cultures and where they come from

carved = to cut an object with a knife

claim = to say that something is true even if you cannot prove it

Chilean = from Chile

crisscross = to travel many times back and forth without a certain pattern ; zigzag

decade = ten years

evidence = facts that clearly show that something is true or exists

examine = to look very closely at an object

however = but

isolated = here: to be alone and far away from others

located = can be found

native = a person who was born in a country or place

previously = earlier

remote = very far away from civilisation

research = the study of a subject in order to find out new facts

sail = the wind brings you somewhere on a boat

scientist = a person who is trained in science and works in a lab

settler = a person who goes to live in a place where not many people have lived before

More than half a million Rohingya have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh in the past year. For ages, the people have been oppressed and discriminated against by the Myanmar government, which does not officially recognise them as a minority.

The Rohingya are a group of people without their own state. Living in western Myanmar, they have been deniedcitizenship, even though they have been there for ages.

The United Nations estimates that there were originally over 1 million Rohingya. Most of them are Muslim, a minority in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar. They are among the most persecuted people in the world.

Since 2016, army forces have been carrying out attacks against the Rohingya. There have been reports that whole villages in western Myanmar have been burned down as well as accusations of mass killings. Refugees arriving in Bangladesh also tell stories of women being raped by soldiers.

Myanmar’s government says it is responding to attacks by rebel Rohingya groups. Officials say that the Rohingya are not being persecuted and treated like other ethnic groups in the country.

The United Nations , Amnesty International and other human rights groups have called for a stop to what they call the ethnic cleansing of western Myanmar.